$70 million apartment sets record

These are some high times for penthouse apartments and for the few top-tier brokers who sell them.

A three-story, 16-room penthouse atop the Pierre hotel listed for $70 million last month has the highest asking price for a Manhattan apartment.

Owned by author and hedge fund manager Martin Zweig, the 11,000 square foot co-op includes nine bedrooms, four terraces, six fireplaces, heated marble floors and a “grand salon” a cavernous former hotel ballroom with a 23-foot ceiling replete with ornate chandeliers.

The property was recently ranked No. 2 on Forbes’ list of the U.S. “Ten Most Expensive Homes.” The co-exclusive brokers for the property are Sharon Baum of Corcoran and a team headed by Elizabeth Sample of Brown Harris Stevens.

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Sample and partner broker Brenda Powers also have the listing for the eighth-most-expensive home on the Forbes list, the penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which is currently on the market for $45.5 million.

With a price raised from $41.5 million last year, the triplex condo has nine bedrooms and nine-and-a-half baths, a 400-square-foot terrace, three wood-burning fireplaces and a glass atrium.

Figuring six percent commission on both penthouse deals (assuming they sell for asking price, which some say is unlikely), brokers would net an estimated $6.93 million on the sales.

The other Manhattan property on the Forbes list coming in at No. 4 is a penthouse duplex at the Trump World Tower selling for $58 million. The apartment was purchased in 1999 by a pair of Turkish brothers Cem and Hakan Uzan for a then record price of $38 million, but they later backed out of the deal according to Forbes.

The entire apartment is 22,288 square feet, and it has 16-foot ceilings. Michael Shvo of Douglas Elliman had the listing as of last month.

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